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Alex Rodriguez accuses MLB of 'gross, ongoing misconduct'

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In this Oct. 1, 2013, file photo, New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez arrives at the offices of Major League Baseball for grievance hearing in New York. Rodriguez allegeldy paid $305,000 for evidence that could be used in the case involving the Biogenesis of America drug clinic, the Daily News reported Saturday, Oct. 19, 2013. The allegation was denied by a spokesman for the Yankees' third baseman. Rodriguez was suspended Aug. 5 but was allowed to keep playing pending a decision on the grievance.
(The Associated Press)

NEW YORK -- With the World Series over, Alex Rodriguez resumed his criticism of Major League Baseball and Commissioner Bud Selig for its investigation that led to a 211-game suspension that the New York Yankees third baseman is trying to overturn.

In addition to a grievance filed by the players' union, Rodriguez filed a lawsuit against Selig and MLB that accused them of engaging in a "witch hunt."

"I am deeply troubled by my team's investigative findings with respect to MLB's conduct," Rodriguez said in a statement Thursday. "How can the gross, ongoing misconduct of the MLB investigations division not be relevant to my suspension, when my suspension supposedly results directly from that division's work?"

MLB suspended Rodriguez on Aug. 5 for violations of its drug agreement and labor contract and was allowed to keep playing pending a determination of the grievance. Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz has heard eight days of hearings, and the next session is Nov. 18.

Speaking last weekend at the World Series, Selig praised MLB's investigative team, saying "I'm very comfortable with what they did and how they did it."

"I've been in baseball now for 50 years," he said. "I thought I'd seen everything, but I hadn't.

Rodriguez waited to respond until after the World Series had ended.

"It is sad that commissioner Selig once again is turning a blind eye, knowing that crimes are being committed under his regime," the three-time AL MVP said. "I have 100 percent faith in my legal team. To be sure, this fight is necessary to protect me, but it also serves the interests of the next 18-year-old coming into the league, to be sure he doesn't step into the house of horrors that I am being forced to walk through."

Rodriguez and MLB have publicly assailed each other for months. MLB accused Rodriguez of "possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone, over the course of multiple years."

"This latest, sad chapter in Mr. Rodriguez's tarnished career is yet another example of this player trying to avoid taking responsibility for his poor choices. Given the disappointing acts that Mr. Rodriguez has repeatedly made throughout his career, his expressed concern for young people rings very hollow," MLB chief operating officer Rob Manfred said in a statement.

"Mr. Rodriguez's use of PEDs was longer and more pervasive than any other player, and when this process is complete, the facts will prove that it is Mr. Rodriguez and his representatives who have engaged in ongoing, gross misconduct."